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Busted
Busted were a three-piece rock band formed in 1984 by Matthew Bourne and Mike Willis. Kurt Simpson was also added to the group before they released their first self-titled album. The band got mainstream success shortly after releasing their first album which got into the UK Top 40 Charts. The band then released a second album, A Present for Everyone, in the winter of 1985 which received even more success than the first. Busted went on to gain a major audience and spent most of 1986 touring and releasing a live album. In 1987 Busted released their final record, a EP titled 3AM, and in the winter of 1987, Simpson announced he was leaving the band after he begun work on a new project. A couple of years later, Simpson's new band, Nirvana, released their first album, Bleach. History 'Early Years as Sweet Children' In 1983, two school friends, Matthew Bourne and Mike Willis began writing songs on their guitars and had a desire to form a band. During sixth form college, they met two other young musicians in the college, Tom Fletcher and Harry Judd. Fletcher, like Bourne and Willis, played the guitar while Judd was a drummer. On a vote, Willis was dropped as a guitarist and became a bassist. The band was named Sweet Children and became popular in the musical community in their home town. The band self-produced an EP after recording a few songs at the local studio, however the band decided not to self-publish as they didn't have enough money. After the summer of 1983, Judd decided to go to university and left the band. He didn't share the optimism of the other members and didn't think the band would go very far outside of their home town. By the end of the year, Fletcher also decided to opt out after the band struggled to find a replacement drummer. Despite only having two members left, Bourne and Willis continued their persuit find a drummer. 'Busted, Simpson and debut album' In early 1984, Fletcher made a deal with Sweet Children. Bourne and Willis agreed that Fletcher can use some songs that Fletcher had written for the band to use if he wanted to. Bourne and Willis didn't think Fletcher would continue his musical path but agreed anyway. Having lost some songs from Fletcher's deal, Bourne and Willis became writing new songs together. Eventually they had a complete library of lyrics that they wanted to record. By spring, the duo had collected enough money to record a small session, but they didn't like how it sounded and knew that if they wanted to gig, they needed a drummer. Over the course of 1984, Sweet Children gigged around the local towns and cities, gaining more recognition where they went. They used touring drummers at their gigs but never found one suitable for the full-time job. The band soon found themselves a manager, J. Kitson, who helped them get bigger gigs. Kitson expressed his concerns for the band and told Bourne and Willis that they needed a third member, and also to change their name. The band was renamed Busters, and they changed it in order to gain more attention because Kitson didn't think the name Sweet Children was good enough to sell. In June 1984, with Kitson's help, the band held auditions for a new drummer, and they finally found one. Kurt Simpson was added to the band after he showed great talent in his performance, he also got along with Bourne and Willis. Band practises became slightly better after Simpson was added to the group, Bourne and Willis noticed that not only could Simpson play drums, but he was as good as them on guitar and the bass as well. Busters began gigging around the country, going further and further out. In the space of two months, the band had accumulated a strong fan following. Eventually, Bourne and Willis decided to let Simpson play lead for a few songs whilst gigging and found that the crowd loved him. Simpson was put up front more and more often, and soon joined Bourne and Willis as the third singer. Against their manager's advice, Busters began using touring drummers again and made Simpson a permanent front member, as a singer and a guitarist. The band was discovered by a journalist from a pop rock magazine and wrote an full-page article on the band, however, the journalist had spelt the band's name wrong and had credited them as Busted. When the band saw this error, they weren't upset, in fact they liked the name more than the actual one and so from then on out, they called themselves Busted. In September 1984, Busted recorded their first album. They named it after the band to maintain their brand as it would be easier for people to find them. The album was released on September 30th and made it into the UK Top Album Chart within a few months. 'Mainstream Success and Second Album' The year of 1985 saw Bourne, Willis and Simpson become superstars. They received promotions and interviews which were broadcasted nationwide. In the summer, they went on tour around the UK and Ireland. In an interview during their stay in Glasgow, Bourne stated that they had already begun working on a new album. Simpson also told a magazine later on that he had help Bourne write songs for their next album. Busted also released four singles from their first album, all reaching the UK Top 40, with one of them hitting number 1. After their tour had ending in late August, the band began recording their second album titled, A Present for Everyone. The band promoted the new album by having a concert in Wembley Stadium where they played a few new songs from the upcoming record. It was clear at that point that the next album was going to be a massive hit. In November of that year, the album was released and hit number 1 in the album charts over the weekend. In 1986, the band became playing more gigs internationally, they found a small amount of success in Europe but found it hard to get much reception in North America. The band went on another tour in the UK, and managed to sell out all of their venues in a matter of minutes. The tour was filmed and a DVD was released in accompany to a live album which was released together in November 1986. 'Failure in America and Split' By 1987, the band had made millions and their albums had gone multi-platinum. Kitson was convinced they could conquer the United States, and so talks began to go on a world tour. Kitson advised they shouldn't released a third album until they have some reception in America. The band put their song writing on hold for the time being. Unfortunately for them, the World Tour was a disappointment. They had gained slightly more popularity in other countries such as Australia and New Zealand, but North America weren't joining the UK in the Busted craze. In a later interview, Willis said he blames Kitson for their failure in America, saying that the promotion was poor and their gigs were limited. At the end of their world tour, the band began to start their new album. Bourne was persistent that they should record a new album and that they didn't need America. Willis, however, was having trouble with alcohol and drugs. He was spotted going into rehab weeks after the world tour had ended. Willis made a statement soon after the news had hit the papers saying that he was better now and that the world tour was a bit too much. Bourne later confirmed his health was better. The band wrote the theme song to a Hollywood film, which they managed to get through Kitson who believed it would help their chances of conquering America. The song was released on the 3AM EP in October. In September 1987, Simpson met young musician Krist Novoselic at a party. The two hit it off as Simpson found common musical interest with the bassist. Quickly, Simpson and Novoselic had formed a small band with Novoselic's friend, Dave Grohl, who played drums. The band was called Nirvana and played grunge-style music, which was very different from that of Busted. Bourne and Willis suspected something was going on when Simpson sometimes missed band rehearsals. They confronted him about it and discovered he'd formed a new band, which hadn't played a gig at that point. Simpson's interest in Busted tired until there was not much band activity at all. On Christmas Eve 1987, Simpson phoned up band manager, J. Kitson, to tell him he'd quit the band to focus more on his new project, Nirvana. Bourne and Willis were quickly contacted about the news. During January 1988, Bourne and Willis decided quit Busted all together, not just because of Simpson's departure, but due to other things like Willis' health. The band announced that it was over in February to disappointed fans across the country. 'After Busted' The year that followed the end of Busted saw Willis go back into rehab, Simpson begin Nirvana's journey to success and the failure of Bourne's new pop rock band, Son of Dork which he formed with some friends. Bourne and Willis continued to remain friends and continued writing songs together. Willis joined a new rock band later in the year called Green Day. Discography Band members * Matthew Bourne - vocals, lead guitar * Ed Fletcher - vocals, rhythm guitar (left 1983) * Harry Judd - drums (left 1983) * Mike Willis - vocals, bass, rhythm guitar, drums * Kurt Simpson - vocals, rhythm guitar, drums (joined 1984)